Single Handed makes a dramatic return

Lorna Nolan
– 13 August 2009 03:00 PM

RTE drama Single Handed has gone down so well with British audiences that the National Broadcaster has decided to bring the programme back for another run.

The Herald can reveal that Montrose bosses are currently in the process of negotiating a deal with the producers of the series, Touchpaper Television, to begin filming another three episodes of the hit police drama.

The series, which was recently bought by ITV, averaged 4.2 million viewers when it made its British debut earlier this month, and has made its Irish stars, Owen McDonnell and Charlene McKenna, well-known faces in Britain.

"It's been fantastic," Owen, who plays the character of Sergeant Jack Driscoll, told the Herald. "The reaction has been phenomenal and certainly the reviews have been very positive, we got over four million viewers on the first night on ITV.

"It's nice to see an Irish-produced show making its mark over here and I'm really hopeful that the new episodes will go ahead.

"It's a stand-alone kind of programme so they're talking about making another three episodes and showing them individually," he explained.

But despite his image being beamed around Britain at the moment, Owen says he hasn't had much attention from fans yet.

Paranoid

"I haven't really been recognised, although I'm a little bit paranoid now, I always think people are looking at me and they're probably not at all.

"When you're playing a guard in uniform no one remembers you when you take it off," he laughed.

The up-and-coming actor was also keen to set the record straight about comments he made recently while doing an interview with the Manchester Evening News.

Owen claims he was misinterpreted during the interview in which he had discussed working in Connemara and described the downfalls of working in a small rural setting.

While a number of Galwegians are said to have taken offence to his words, Owen says he was merely using the region as an example and did not mean to cause any insult to locals.